Gunasekaran appointed business dean

Dr. Angappa Gunasekaran has been appointed dean of the Charlton College of Business at UMass Dartmouth.

DARTMOUTH — Dr. Angappa Gunasekaran has been appointed dean of the Charlton College of Business at UMass Dartmouth.

Gunasekaran had been serving as the college's interim dean. He is a longtime university faculty member and founder and director of the Business Innovation Research Center. He recently established the SouthCoast Business Innovation Laboratory in partnership with the Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center in Fall River.

"Over the last few months, Dr. Gunasakaran has impressed us all with his collaborative spirit and dedication to student success," said Chancellor Divina Grossman. "He brings a wealth of experience and perspective to the job of dean."

Prior to serving as interim dean, Gunasekaran served as chairperson of the Department of Decision and Information Sciences at Charlton. During that time, he obtained $4 million worth of grant funding and in-kind support for academic activity within the department.

A member of the faculty since 1998, he is an expert in operations management and information systems, has published approximately 250 journal articles and given many invited talks, and has served on the editorial board of several journals.

"I am extremely happy and honored to accept the role of Dean," said Dr. Gunasekaran. "The Charlton College of Business has an outstanding faculty that is dedicated to a model of teaching, research and engagement that creates a transformative learning experience for undergraduates and graduate students."

UMass Dartmouth also recently named Dr. Mohammad A. Karim its new provost and executive vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. Karim had been vice president for research at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

As Old Dominion's first vice president for research, Dr. Karim led efforts to grow the university's research enterprise from $34.8 million to $104.6 million, improving ODU's research rankings across a variety of fields, including oceanography, business, engineering, education and the arts. He oversaw a 1,302-person team that included 216 faculty researchers, 262 non-faculty professionals, 286 graduate research assistants, and 603 others.